Investigation into VCE exam cheats

Education authorities are investigating what could be Victoria's biggest exam cheating case in decades.

The Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority says VCE students may have had early access to exam papers in three subjects - chemistry, maths methods, and information processing and management.

VCAA chief executive Susan Pascoe said the authority had been alerted to the potential breach by its results analysis system, which flags common answers. She said it was potentially the most serious case of cheating since an exam leakage in the 1980s.

"Our databases started flagging it for us from about Wednesday or Thursday last week, but we actually got a bit of a rumbling in from the field about the same time... that investigation has shown that the concerns are warranted," she said.

The VCAA operates a results prediction system that alerts it to students who have recorded final exam scores much higher than those achieved during the year.

The inquiry involves a small number of students and a small number of schools. The authority has informed police of the matter and will meet lawyers today.

"If we detect any breach we would be prosecuting as far as we could go," Ms Pascoe said.